Charlie’s Acupuncture & Vet Appointments

This post may contain affiliate links. If you purchase through links on my site, I may earn a commission at no cost to you. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

We just got home from Charlie’s weekly acupuncture treatment and vet appointments. I am going to take him in on Monday morning for additional strength training.

Here’s how he looks in his cool laser treatment glasses. We all wore safety glasses, but the technician thought Charlie was adorable in his.

Charlie With Glasses for Laser Treatment:

He is sitting in my lap and still has some of the acupuncture needles inserted. I wonder if he understands how suave he looks? Don’t you think the female doggies would swoon?

The acupuncture vet has decided to stop Charlie’s land therapy sessions. His back legs are weak because the nerves in his back aren’t letting him know to move his legs.

She’s also stretched his acupuncture to once every two weeks to see how he does. I’m a little anxious about this, but I will give it a go. It will save me money. Land therapy costs $25, and acupuncture is approximately $70.

But my main goal is Charlie, of course. I will pay whatever I have to to ease his pain.

Therapy With An Eggshell Mattress Pad:

They instructed me to order one of those eggshell mattress pads, which I will do after I finish this.

They want me to lay it on the floor and have Charlie walk on that. That will be similar to what they do there. He needs to walk on uneven surfaces to try to strengthen his back feet and legs.

Last Tuesday at acupuncture, the rehab doctor examined Charlie’s sinking and hind limb crossing. She then added a treatment of kinesiotaping on his thighs. This tape will help stimulate nerves through cutaneous mechanisms and may assist with the wider-based placement of his hind limbs. I’m going to take it off tomorrow.

However, we can focus on his back legs, which are deteriorating rapidly. The vet said his neck seemed much less tense today after they did the laser treatment last week. She said if he’s still doing better next week, we will taper off the acupuncture a bit.

Then we’ll focus on his back/leg strength training. That would save me about $70 per week if he didn’t have the acupuncture. She said if we can stretch it to two weeks, I can save a bit of money.

Of course, when it comes to your pets, you’ll do most anything. Pay anything to take care of them. That’s just what we do. And that’s what I’ll do.

Charlie’s Health Update At Dr. Poteet’s:

Dr. Poteet said that his tongue looks the best it has since she has been seeing him and that his overall health seems to be improving. There’s not much we can do for his trachea. I give him small, measured doses of hydrocodone cough syrup when he coughs excessively. They tell me that that’s about all you can do.

There was apparent weakness in his right back leg. Then he started to drag it behind him, so I took him to the vet yesterday.

Charlie has had back problems for years. His mid-back discs have collapsed. Dr. Poteet said he can’t really feel the leg or know where to place his foot. Dr. Poteet administered a shot of Vitamin E to alleviate the inflammation. Charlie can’t take pain pills because of his heart condition/medication. So I give him Vitamin E supplements every day.

Many medications, like this one, are available in chewable form, but unfortunately, Charlie has no teeth. So I cut the pills up into small pieces. Then I put them into a small pill pocket treat. He manages to get that down.

So Charlie will go in for physical therapy again tomorrow. They will have to work us in again because the vet, who is 75 and never takes a day off, is booked solid through the month. Dr. Poteet lives and breathes his work at the clinic.

How Does Dr. Poteet Do It?

I wonder how you see death every day and still have the fortitude to persevere? But this man does. When he drops, it will be in that little clinic, where the furnishings and wall decor have been out of style for over 40 years. Instead of renovating the place, he places something under a table to make it level and continues.

His prices are very reasonable, and that’s why you don’t see fancy surroundings when you go in there. I am just thankful that he has treated my pets with such loving care.

I couldn’t care less that the walls at the Cedarwood Vet Clinic are covered in paneling from the 60s or 70s. And it has looked the same ever since I started taking my pets there in 2012, just after I moved to Tulsa from Texas.

On the walls are many photos and cards from thankful pet parents who have sent their beloved pets to Dr. Poteet.

In the small waiting room, a corner has been designated as a library that someone set up in memory of their pet. It is just a box with used books for anyone’s reading pleasure.

Rest in peace, as well, my sweet Abi Rose.

And thank you, Dr. Poteet, for your endless, dedicated, and loving hours spent taking care of our “babies.”

He’s one of those vets who never take a day off, even though he’s in his mid-seventies and just got remarried. His first wife died years ago. The man has probably taken two vacations in all his years as a vet.

Dr. Poteet might be right about my sweet boy. He told me that Charlie might have plans to stick around for a while longer.

What I Heard in the Waiting Room:

Yesterday, while we were in the waiting room, I heard him talking to a patient’s mother or father on the phone. Dr. Poteet didn’t use the words “your pet, dog, or cat.” I heard him say the words “your baby,” and then he proceeded to tell them how their pet was doing.

Hearing his words touched me deeply. They are all babies to him. When Abi died, he told me that every baby he ever had broke his heart in two when he lost them. It breaks mine too.

Also on the wall is the photocopied print of the beautiful young vet technician who was just about to finish her schooling last year.

Her name was Arielle, and she and her unborn baby were killed by a drunk driver the same week I lost Abi.

Oh, how I loathe people who drink and drive, and I was married to one of them. So, as the tacked-up photocopy says, RIP Arielle.